1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a refrigerator constituting a freezing chamber and a cooling chamber, in which an evaporating unit is provided in a means for partitioning between the freezing chamber and the cooling chamber.
2) Description of the Related Art
A conventional refrigerator is generally configured of two chambers, a freezing chamber and a cooling chamber, which are vertically separated from each other. A current refrigerator is gradually changed into a structure capable of opening/closing the freezing and cooling chamber at the front.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a freezing cycle of a general refrigerator.
As shown in FIG. 1, a refrigerant compressed by a compressor 21 enters a condenser 24. The refrigerant passing through the condenser 24 enters a capillary tube 23. The refrigerant passing through the capillary tube 23 enters an evaporator 24 to generate a freezing effect, and then re-enters the compressor 21 to be compressed. This process is repeated.
Here, the compressor 21 changes the gaseous refrigerant of a low-temperature and low-pressure into that of a high-temperature and high-pressure, and discharges the changed result toward the condenser 24. The condenser 24 cools the gaseous refrigerant of the high-temperature and high-pressure into a liquid refrigerant of a middle-temperature and high-pressure by heat radiation, and introduces the cooled result into the capillary tube 23. The liquid refrigerant of the middle-temperature and high-pressure passes through the capillary tube 23 to become a liquid refrigerant of a low-temperature and low-pressure. While passing through the evaporator 22, the liquid refrigerant of the low-temperature and low-pressure takes heat from inside of a main body of the refrigerator, and becomes a gaseous refrigerant of the low-temperature and low-pressure. The gaseous refrigerant of the low-temperature and low-pressure is introduced into the compressor 21 again.
Therefore, this freezing cycle is repeated, so that freezing and cooling effects are generated inside of the refrigerator.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a conventional refrigerator, whose doors are opened.
As shown in FIG. 2, a refrigerator is designed so that a freezing chamber 1 and a cooling chamber 2, both of which are provided a plurality of received spaces, are divided from each other and are opened (or closed) by a door of the refrigerator.
The cooling chamber 2 is used to keep various foods including meat and vegetables which are required not only for maintenance of a degree of freshness at a low temperature, but also for storage for a short time period, as well as beverages for drinking at a low temperature, while the freezing chamber 1 is used to deposit various foods which are required for storage for a long time period at a very low temperature (of about −18° C.).
In order to maintain the freezing chamber 1 at the very low temperature, a cooling air is generated from an evaporator (7 of FIG. 3) performing a freezing cycle, and is supplied through an outlet 5 provided on a rear wall 4 of the freezing chamber 1.
FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view showing a conventional refrigerator, in which an evaporator unit is mounted on a rear wall of a freezing chamber, and FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing a structure of the evaporator unit shown in FIG. 3.
A process of discharging a cooling air from an evaporator 7 will be described in more detail. As shown in the figures, a rear wall 4 of a freezing chamber is provided with a shroud 8 as a path for the cooling air. The shroud 8 is provided with the evaporator unit on the rear thereof. The evaporator unit is comprised of an evaporator 7, a blow fan 9 and a cooling air outlet 5. The cooling air generated from the evaporator 7 travels along the cooling air path formed by the shroud 8 while being forcibly circulated by the blow fan 9, and is finally discharged through the cooling air outlet 5 provided at a predetermined position of the rear wall 4 of the freezing chamber.
However, when the evaporator unit is provided on the rear of the shroud 8 located at the rear wall 4 of the freezing chamber, a part of space of the freezing chamber is occupied by the evaporator unit. For this reason, a real efficient volume of the freezing chamber is reduced, so that a user experiences reduced convenience.
In other words, because the above-mentioned evaporator is wide, thick and short, a large extra space exists under the evaporator as a portion “A” of FIG. 3. Nevertheless, the extra space is not used, so that the entire received space of the freezing chamber is not efficiently used.